South Korea’s KB Kookmin Card and Japan’s SBI Holdings plan to test identity verification powered by artificial intelligence. They also plan to explore crypto as a payment option for Japanese tourists.
Neither company has published a formal announcement detailing how the arrangement would work. So, for now, this is a plan to test, not a product you can use on your next trip to Seoul.
What the two firms plan to try
The idea has two parts. The first uses AI to confirm a customer is who they claim to be.
The second part looks at crypto as a way for Japanese visitors to pay for things. Cross-border card payments usually involve currency conversion, foreign transaction fees, and several intermediaries taking a cut along the way.
Crypto rails, particularly stablecoins, promise to shrink that chain. A stablecoin is a digital token pegged to a traditional currency, so its value is meant to stay put rather than swing wildly.
KB Kookmin Card has been busy
By late September 2026, it had completed a real-world stablecoin payment pilot at CU convenience stores. The test ran transactions over blockchain infrastructure instead of the usual card processing network.
In September 2026, KB Kookmin Card also joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program. It has worked with MoonPay, a crypto payments provider, as well.
On September 29, 2026, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with SY Polaris. That agreement covers testing payment systems driven by AI agents, with a focus on tightening security.
KB Kookmin Card has also pursued patents, including one for a hybrid card that blends stablecoin and credit functions.
SBI’s parallel track
SBI Holdings has its own tourist-focused experiment underway. SBI DigiTrust, a subsidiary, is testing stablecoin-based QR code payments for people traveling from Japan to South Korea.
That program started in late September to early October 2026. It involves NICE Information & Telecommunication and DSRV, a blockchain infrastructure firm.
The test spans a network of approximately 1.2 million merchants connected through NICE. Its goal is to measure whether these payments are commercially viable and efficient at scale.
KB Kookmin Card is not named as a participant in that SBI DigiTrust trial. The AI identity verification piece has also not been tied to the QR program in available descriptions.
What this means
The AI identity angle may turn out to be the more consequential piece. Faster, cheaper customer verification lowers the cost of onboarding foreign users, and that cost is often what kills cross-border financial products before they launch.
For anyone tracking digital payments in Asia, a few signals are worth watching. Look for a formal agreement between KB Kookmin Card and SBI Holdings, results from the SBI DigiTrust merchant trial, and South Korea’s next moves on stablecoin regulation.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Kaye Quema. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.